Legislation

ACLU of RI-drafted legislation would have protected users’ private social media profiles from undue intrusion by barring schools and employers from requesting or requiring students’, employees’ or applicants’ social media passwords, or otherwise gaining access to their private social media accounts.

In February, the ACLU testified before the House Corporations committee in opposition to two bills sanctioning the use of automated license plate readers (ALPRs), which are scanners placed on police cruisers and used to scan every license plate on the street.

The General Assembly again took steps to protect the overuse of social security numbers, by prohibiting credit agencies from using an individual’s social security number as the sole means of verification matching a credit record to an inquiry by a merchant.

In April, the House Corporations committee heard legislation sanctioning the installation of cameras on police cruisers to continuously scan every license plate on the street.

ACLU legislation was successfully enacted to clarify existing law about screening newborns for illnesses.

An ACLU bill that has been enacted into law bars most merchants from demanding any part of a customer’s social security number as a condition of commercial transactions.

An extremely significant civil liberties loss this year was the passage of legislation allowing law enforcement to obtain an individual’s internet subscriber information from internet service providers without a warrant.

The Affiliate testified in opposition to legislation amending current law allowing the use of cameras on school buses to catch drivers who unlawfully pass them.

In 2008, the legislature authorized broad-based medical testing of newborns. This year, an ACLU bill was introduced to fine-tune the statute, requiring a medical benefit and known treatment before “other conditions” can be screened for.